Appearing as a guest on Sunday's CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow, CNN political commentator and New York Times columnist Charles Blow became the latest example of liberals accusing Republicans of racism when they talk about helping black Americans solve problems that they are disproportionately affected by, as he asserted that recent efforts by the Donald Trump campaign at "outreach" to blacks are just an excuse for the GOP candidate to speak negatively about blacks in front of white audiences.
After declaring that "This is just a backhanded way of criticizing black people in front of white people," leading host Harlow to bring up a clip of CNN political commentator Ryan Lizza suggesting that the Trump campaign was just trying to convince college-educated white Republicans that he is not racist, Blow reiterated his charge as he responded: "There may be something to that. I think it's worse than that, though. I do think that it is a backhanded way of criticizing black people in front of white people."
After Harlow wondered how such a motivation could help Trump's campaign, Blow added:
Because it cements the idea that black people are not necessarily great agents of their own fate and their own futures, right? It says that you have been hoodwinked and you have allowed yourself to be hoodwinked. It says that you are -- he ticks off ridiculous numbers of stereotypes and statistics that are all negative, nothing positive about black people.
The liberal columnist then continued:
He can't even find a single positive thing to say about the black community. That is not an appeal to black people. That is to reinforce negative stereotypes that white people already hold about black communities. And in that way, it is basically an echo chamber of what they already feel. This is not -- and people need to stop saying this is an appeal just because he says it's an appeal. It is a negative treatment of black people in America. And black people see straight through it.
Earlier in the segment, he more directly hinted at "racism" as a motivation as he complained:
He can't even find a single positive thing to say about the black community. That is not an appeal to black people. That is to reinforce negative stereotypes that white people already hold about black communities. And in that way, it is basically an echo chamber of what they already feel. This is not -- and people need to stop saying this is an appeal just because he says it's an appeal. It is a negative treatment of black people in America. And black people see straight through it.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the segment from CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow from Sunday, August 21:
7:44 p.m. ET
POPPY HARLOW: So his team would say that the economic policies of this administration, they would say have failed black America, and that his job creation ability will help elevate them -- so much so that he said that he could get 95 percent of the black vote in four years which President Obama only got 93 percent.
CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: All of that is ridiculous. One of my favorite talking points is the great effect that racism is a distraction. It keeps you explaining things that don't need to be explained. Any lie does that. You throw something out, it makes people then talk about and have to explain something that does not need to be explained.
People know who Donald Trump is, and that idea that you could, that he would throw out a distraction, which is all this is. In my opinion, this is nothing but distraction. If you wanted to appeal to black people, you'd actually be saying something positive in the appeals. This is just a backhanded way of criticizing black people in front of white people-
HARLOW: So there's another argument to it that Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker made on my show last night. Let's listen to what he said.
RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, there's one argument about Trump's outreach to black voters this week that is he's not so much looking for the votes of African-Americans, but he's trying to prove to college-educated Republicans who are turned off by this that he is not racist.
HARLOW: What do you make of that?
BLOW: There may be something to that. I think it's worse than that, though. I do think that it is a backhanded way of criticizing black people in front of white people.
HARLOW: To what end? How does that benefit his -- how does that benefit his campaign and the votes he needs?
BLOW: Because it cements the idea that black people are not necessarily great agents of their own fate and their own futures, right? It says that you have been hoodwinked and you have allowed yourself to be hoodwinked. It says that you are -- he ticks off ridiculous numbers of stereotypes and statistics that are all negative, nothing positive about black people.
He can't even find a single positive thing to say about the black community. That is not an appeal to black people. That is to reinforce negative stereotypes that white people already hold about black communities. And in that way, it is basically an echo chamber of what they already feel. This is not -- and people need to stop saying this is an appeal just because he says it's an appeal. It is a negative treatment of black people in America. And black people see straight through it.
